Focusing on the Future - Lesson 10 - Ills of Time

Our foundational verse for this thirteen week study is …

Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

So far we have spoken about: Forgetting, Reaching Forth, our High Calling, what our True Attitude should be, Warnings, Spiritual Crowns and Rewards.

This lesson will focus on …


The Ills of Time will be Known No More

No More Sea

The absence of sea is understood by some to denote
symbolically the absence of all change, commotion, or trouble of any sort.
But perhaps the words have a meaning which nothing but the appearance
of the new heavens and new earth can explain.

There will be no sea;
this aptly represents freedom from conflicting passions,
temptations, troubles, changes, and alarms;
from whatever can divide or interrupt the communion of saints


Revelation 21:1, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.’

There are great risks on the sea,
I wouldn’t want to be stranded at sea.

What change, commotion or trouble are you looking forward to when you are in heaven?





There will be no more Sorrow

No sorrow or travail of any kind shall ever enter within the walls of heaven.
The cry of anguish shall never be uttered,
hearts shall never be broken,
no tear shall ever dim the eye,
and, most glorious of all,
death shall be unknown.

Revelation 21:4, ‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’

“Often the clouds of sorrow reveal the sunshine of His face.” – Jasper

I am sure we go days or maybe even weeks without feeling sorrow,
But when it hits it really hits…

What sorrow are you looking forward to being freed from?





There will be no more Crying

We read about crying in Revelation 21:4, here it is prophesied about in…

Isaiah 65:19, ‘And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.’

This will be one of the characteristics of that blessed state,
that not a tear shall ever be shed there.

How different will that be from the condition here—
for who is there here who has not learned to weep

Jesus wept in John 11:35…

It is right, it is natural, it is indispensable
for the Christian to sympathize with others in their afflictions.

Romans 12:15, ‘Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.’

What would you like to share about crying or weeping?





There will be no more Pain

Again we read…

Revelation 21:4, ‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’

Under the former heaven, and upon the former earth,
there was death and sorrow, crying and pain;
all which occasioned many tears:
but now pain and sorrow are fled away,
and the saints have everlasting life and joy.

What pain are you looking forward to being free of?





There will be no more Curse

As there shall be no more sinning against God, so there shall be no more curse of God upon the people;

Revelation 22:3, ‘And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:’

The earth will be no more cursed,
and will produce no more thorns and thistles;
man will be no more compelled to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow;
woman will be no more doomed to bear the sufferings which she does now;

And the abodes of the blessed will be no more cursed
by sickness, sorrow, tears, and death.

Not a throb of pain has ever been felt by the human body,
not a pang has ever pierced the human heart,
or a shadow of sorrow passed over the human spirit,
which was not due, either directly
or indirectly, to transgression.

Do you agree with that statement?





There will be no more Night

No darkness of ignorance or error,
or darkness of affliction, temptation, or desertion,
no night of natural darkness,
no night of spiritual darkness,
much less of eternal darkness,
which is the portion of the wicked:

Farther, there shall be no need of natural light,
the light of the sun;
no need of artificial light,
the light of a candle;
no need of the spiritual light of the word and ordinances,
all which shall then and there cease.

Revelation 22:5, ‘And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.’


The city is a city of light lighted by the divine presence, but the meaning goes beyond this. The soul shall have no nights of sorrow there.

Would you like to share anything here?





There will be no more Death

Revelation 20:14, ‘And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.’

1 Corinthians 15:26, ‘The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.’



In conclusion

“God has one Son without sin, but he never had a son without trial.” – Spurgeon

It’s not going to be easy as we walk through the rest of our life.
But we can look forward to those things we will be without,
For all eternity:

There will be no more Sea
There will be no more Sorrow
There will be no more Crying
There will be no more Pain
There will be no more Curse
There will be no more Night
There will be no more Death

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